Sunday, June 10, 2007

I think I'm starting a self-trend here -- this is my second post of "I hate localization," this time my target is not Google but MSN Live Messenger. As you'll read from my first post on the subject, I freak'n HATE when I am forced to read information in a language I did not ask to read. In MSN Live Messenger, I have installed everything in English -- the entire UI is in English, but, when I click "Create your own space" or "Share your contact info" or "Share your journal entries" --- guess what language it's in? Go ahead, take a guess. I will tell you -- it's Czech. I do not want it in Czech (are you listening Microsoft?). I want it in English, since my MSN Messenger is in English, it only makes sense. Thus concludes my rant against MSN Messenger -- another application with a poor localization sense.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Well, today I was shopping for a new phone again (my old skool Nokia 7650 is on its death bed). I got my hands on an E-TEN M700, and man it's a beauty of a phone -- buying this one was temping (I was looking to impulse buy the Nokia N95 (too expensive for what you get), Nokia E61i (not bad for the price, but no GPS), or this E-TEN M700 (no 3G and crap ass Microsoft iExplore on Windows Mobile Platform).

Using my excellent discipline to hold off on buying, I decided to go home and do research on the products -- and as I just mentioned, the fact that it does NOT have any 3G support and used MS Exploder was a big draw back. The E-TEN X800 is supposed to be coming out soon, and it should add 3G support -- it'll still have Microsoft Exploder, but I can probably live with it if the price is below the Nokia 95's. Otherwise, I will just use my Nokia 7650 until it stops working. And just in case you didn't read why I HATE MS Exploder on the Windows Mobile Platform, see my previous blog post from May 2007 on the subject.

Check out this video review of the E-TEN M700 -- even these guys state the same fact that MS Exploder is worthless, and lack of 3G is a disappointment, but otherwise, it's a very nice phone.